Hey there! My name is Ana and I am an Expat Woman in Turkey 🙂 I have been living here for the past four years. I am stay at home mom to a three-year-old boy and a baby boy. My husband is Turkish. I created this website to share my expat experience and connect with other expat women. Hope you enjoy browsing through my website! :)
Traditional Food in Turkey
Ahhhh…. Traditional Food in Turkey is definitely one of my favourite topics 🙂 I love good food and as a person who lives now in Turkey, I get to enjoy this wonderful food every day. This is definitely one of the many benefits of being an expat in Turkey.
But first things first:
TURKISH BREAKFAST
Turkish breakfast is one very important subject and should have a post of its own 🙂 Here is a post dedicated only to Turkish traditional breakfast as it is very important for every expat and visitor coming to Turkey to know what to except when being invited to a festival of food called – Turkish breakfast.
Breakfast in Turkey is a ceremony and a huge part of the Turkish tradition. People meet for breakfasts, eat slowly and A LOT :), enjoy the beginning of the day together, usually on weekends. Of course, never without famous Turkish tea.
Typical Turkish breakfast
Recently I saw a candid camera show here in Turkey, where people are being served breakfast in a restaurant, but without Turkish tea. In the beginning, customers were suspicious about it, but then, in the end, they were threatening waiters to kill them if they don’t bring them THE tea 🙂
So that is how important this subject is 🙂
LUNCH/DINNER
Turkish rice pilaf
There are many varieties of how lunch or dinner may look in Turkey. Usually, there will be soup (çorba), salad, meat, vegetables, bread, rice pilaf or bulgur
pilaf and something sweet (and sometimes fruits) which is almost without exception consumed with Turkish tea.
In the restaurants usually free (ikram) tea is being served and you can drink few cups if you like. This is part of the amazing Turkish hospitality.
Being a guest in a Turkish house for dinner
Meat (kebab)
If a Turkish family invites you for dinner you will eat well for sure. Turkish women are amazing and very talented cooks. There are rules that are followed almost without exception and a guest in Turkey is treated like a king.
You will first eat, as mentioned before, soup (çorba), salad, meat, vegetables, bread, rice pilaf or bulgur pilaf, something sweet, then fruits…and then when you think you will explode from the amount of food you ate, here they come – nuts! Almonds, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and pistachios. But somehow you find a place for them too 🙂 Somewhere between sweets and fruits, her highness Turkish coffee will appear. Small, but rich cup of flavour wonders!
Turkish coffee and nuts
When you come to Turkey, especially when you are a guest, try to enjoy all the food your hosts prepared for you, as it is very important for them to know they did everything to make you feel welcomed. Eat without guilt, enjoy this wonderful land, learn from talented Turkish women and enrich your life.
Here on “Expat Women in Turkey” we plan to make many breakfasts and dinners together and also we will have guest cooks who will show us and teach us about all the amazing Traditional Food in Turkey.
Baklava
Please, share your comments on this subject in the comment box bellow or you can contact me directly. Is there something in particular that you are interested in learning or teaching to cook, I would love to get in touch with you.
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I’ve had Turkish food many times. Many Middle Eastern foods are derived from Turkey, so your article felt very familiar. Still, I never imagined they care about their tea that much… it’s pretty crazy! Thanks for the guide Ana!
Yes, tea is a huge thing here 🙂 Hope you will have a chance to experience it for yourself. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Wow! I love Turkish food! This reminds me of the time, visiting Turkey on an adventure holiday. I went to a small town called KaÅŸ, it was absolutely beautiful! Everything about the Turkish cuisine is delicious, as you had mentioned- from breakfast to lunch.
They really make you feel welcome too, going out for a Turkish coffee, they sometimes include a flavored liquor of some sort.
You are tempting me to come back to visit Turkey again!
Thank you for an amazing article, really enjoyed it.
Yes, the food is really amazing and the people’s hospitality makes it even tastier. It’s great how in every restaurant in Turkey you feel so welcomed and very well served with all little free things you get, like the “lokum” they serve with Turkish coffee. I love the service here and I’m glad you had a chance to enjoy it.
All of this Turkish food looks amazing! I want to try it all! I will have to make one or two of these soon since I have never had Turkish food. Thanks for posting!
Hey Rebecca, I’m so glad you like how it looks and trust me, it tastes amazing! I will try to include some recipes to my posts, so you will have a chance to easily make them. Actually here is one, hope you will enjoy it – http://expatwomeninturkey.com/amazing-kuymak-recipe-make-turkish-food-at-home. I love Turkish food, their cuisine is so rich and includes so many different spices, vegetables and meat. Hope you will try many of these in your lifetime! Thanks for sharing your comment!
Everything looks so delicious. I hope to have a chance to try something from Turkish cuisine.
Dear Milena, thank you for your comment and I’m happy you like what you see. You should try and you will fly to the Moon 🙂 All the best to you,Ana.
Oh God, with these pics you brought me back to the time when I was happily living in Turkey! I miss the smell of Turkish cuisine and I am always amazed of how many different dishes they have! My favorite in all is on the first pic-pide! I could eat it every single day 😀
Dear Natalia, yes, there are always surprises in Turkish cuisine 🙂 I agree on pide 🙂 It is a great food!